CLEARWATER -- An organization that says it wants to reform the
Church of Scientology has followed through with its plans to
open a headquarters at the epicenter of the Scientology world.

The group, led by New England millionaire Robert S. Minton, on
Wednesday purchased a small office building at 33 N Fort
Harrison Ave., just 30 feet from a major Scientology building
downtown. Minton and a five-member staff say they plan to
educate local residents -- including existing Scientologists --
about abuses within the church.

Scientology reacted Wednesday with strong words.

"These guys are nobodies," said church official Marty Rathbun.
"They bring absolutely nothing to this community."

He compared it to the Ku Klux Klan opening an office in North
Greenwood, a Clearwater neighborhood with mostly black
residents.

He said the notion that a group of outsiders needs to reform
Scientology is absurd. Support for the church is higher than
ever among its members, Rathbun said. He also said Scientology
has worked hard to normalize relations in Clearwater, where
city officials have included the church in discussions about
downtown redevelopment for the first time since its
controversial arrival in Clearwater during the late 1970s.

Today, Clearwater is Scientology's "mecca," a destination for
church members who come from throughout the world to engage in
Scientology counseling.

"There's been a lot of progress made, and this just detracts
from that," Rathbun said.

"The reason they're here is to harass people," he said. "They
know better than anybody that any existing Scientologist isn't
interested in their information."

Minton's group has a different view. He and a staff that
includes four former Scientologists say they have been embraced
by locals, including some current church members.

"Everywhere I go I've met people in the community saying,
"Thank God you're here,' " said Stacy Brooks, a former
Scientologist who will help Minton lead the new group. "People
are starved for information about Scientology: "What are they
doing? Why do they act so secretive?' "

At a closing Wednesday afternoon, an enthused Minton agreed to
pay $325,000 for a two-story, 7,500-square foot building. The
phones were hooked up and an Internet Web site was to be
installed this week.

A neighboring restaurant owner who supports Minton welcomed him
to the block with a festive basket of bruschetta and a 1998
bottle of merlot.

The new headquarters is two doors north of Scientology's
Clearwater Building, a renovated bank facing Cleveland Street
that was one of the church's first land purchases in the
mid-1970s.

It is home to the church's public affairs offices and two large
dining halls that feed more than 1,000 uniformed Scientology
staffers every day.

On Tuesday, the church offered to buy the building out from
under Minton, but the seller, CPA Scott Brauer, declined.

Rathbun said the church was concerned about Minton's presence
but generally would try to ignore him.

The new group, called the Lisa McPherson Trust, is named for
the 36-year-old Scientologist who died in 1995 while in the
care of Scientology staffers. Her death has resulted in
criminal charges against the church and a wrongful death
lawsuit by McPherson's family.

Minton, a 53-year-old retired investment banker, is financing
the lawsuit and says he has donated $2.5-million to
anti-Scientology efforts.

He said the trust has no quarrel with Scientology's beliefs.
"What we are opposed to," Minton said, "is the way they handle
criticism."

He also said the church's ethics system is abusive and harmful
to members.

Minton said several existing Scientologists are working with
him and are interested in reforming the church. He declined to
name them, saying they feared retribution from the church.

Rathbun rejected that claim, saying the church's ethics system
is the "foundation for a clean, happy spiritual life" that no
Scientologist would think of abandoning. The system is so
fundamental to the practice of Scientology that it could never
be separated out, he said.

Those who don't want to adhere to the ethical code can reform
it from the inside or leave the church, he said, adding it was
presumptuous of an outsider like Minton to attempt such a thing.

Rathbun also said that some of Minton's followers, including
Stacy Brooks, are no longer in Scientology because they could
not measure up to Scientology ethics.

He noted that Minton has twice been arrested during encounters
with Scientologists.

Rathbun and other church officials also allege that Minton and
his staff are in Clearwater to violently "deprogram"
Scientologists.

Minton and his staff say the church is exaggerating. They say
they want to provide information and "exit counseling" for
church members who come to them.

>By THOMAS C. TOBIN
>St. Petersburg Times
>January 6, 2000
>
>CLEARWATER -- An organization that says it wants to reform the Church of
>Scientology has followed through with its plans to open a headquarters at
>the epicenter of the Scientology world.

[...]

>On Tuesday, the church offered to buy the building out from under Minton,
>but the seller, CPA Scott Brauer, declined.

Now there's a brave man.

[...]

>Rathbun also said that some of Minton's followers, including Stacy Brooks,
>are no longer in Scientology because they could not measure up to
>Scientology ethics.

You know, I remember the first time I read this accusation. It must
have been back in 1995 or so, and was levelled at Dennis Erlich. Since
Dennis was clearly a man with great personal integrity and very high
standards of ethics, I was astounded by the charge.

Then I learned that to be "ethical" in the Church of Scientology means
only that one "keeps Scientology working," no matter how many laws of
man and nature such efforts violate.

To be "ethical" in CoS-speak doesn't mean being a kind person, or an
honest person, or a moral person, or a compassionate person, or an
honorable person. Now I know that there are many, a preponderance
even, of Scientologists who are all of these things. I simply point
out that in CoS-speak, an "ethical person" doesn't have to possess any
of these qualities just so long as s/he "keeps Scientology working."
That is Scientology's definition of "ethics" and "an ethical person."